Apparatus for the distillation of dry cleaning liquid



May 5, 1936. A. .JONES A 2,039,963

APPARATUS FR THE DISTILLATON OF' DRY CLEANING LIQUID Filed March 30,1934 2 Sheets-Sheet l RMX.

NVENTOH 5j JX/ May 5, IgE@ l A, JONES z APPARATUS FOR THE DISTILLATIONOF DRY CLEANING LIQUID 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 3o, 1934 dei man sysPatented May 5, 1936 PATE NT oFFlCE APPARATUS FOR THE DIS'IILLATION OFDRY CLEANING LIQUID Alfred Jones, London, England, assigner to W. M.

. Still &'. Sons Limited, London, England Application March so, 1934,Serin No. 718,159 In Great Britain `August 11, 1933 2 Claims.

This invention relates to dry cleaning apparatus in which clothes orother articles to be cleaned are washed with benzine or other cleansingliquid which is recoveredby vdistillation and condensation for reuse.

Dry cleaning apparatus is known in which a still receives dirty liquidfrom a washing chamber and the sludge or residual liquid from this stillis discharged from time to time into an auxiliary still, the -distilledvapours from both the main and the auxiliary still being led to a commoncondenser whence the condensate is returned to the apparatus for reuse.

When sludge or dirty residual liquid is heated suiiiciently to evaporatethe volatile constituents in reasonable time, it is found that almostinvariably it froths to such an extent that froth is carried out of thestill with the vapour and, if this frothy vapour is condensed andreturned for reuse as cleansing liquid, contamination of the cleansingliquid results.

Objects of the present invention are to provide improved means forwithdrawing from the system dirty distillation residues and for heatingup the used liquid before it is distilled.

According to the present invention dirty distillation residues arewithdrawn from a main.I still and discharged into a supplementary stillthrough a pipe connecting the bottom of the main still to the top of thesupplementary still the said pipe also serving to condense the vapourdistilled from the liquid in the supplementary still and return thedistillate to the main still. The main still is connected with a chamberwhich receives the used cleansing liquid from the cleaning chamber andin which, before passing to the main still, it is preheated by hotcirculation water from the condenser of the main still, with or withoutthe aid of water of condensation from the stills when the latter aresteam heated. The preheating vessel is preferably tted with a removablestrainer for intercepting buttons and other small objects and has itstop connected to the bottom of the main still by a pipe through whichthe preheated cleansing liquid overflows as additional used cleaningliquid is discharged into the preheating vessel from the cleaningchamber.

In the accompanying drawings, Fig. 1 shows the apparatus mainly inelevation;

Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation at right angles to Fig. l showing thecleaning chamber and basket and the preheating vessel.

The apparatus comprises a standard or frame a having fixed to its upperpart the end cover b of the cleaning chamber which is constituted by acylindrical vessel c bolted to the said end cover and having, at itsopposite end, an upwardly inclined inlet passage d closed by a door epreferably hinged at its edge el and carrying, on an inwardly extendingbracket e2, a closure e3 for 5 an aperture in the end of aclothes-containing basket f which is secured to a driving spindle yextending through a stullng box h in the xed end cover b and mounted inroller bearings in the standard or frame a. The door-carried 10 closuree3 prevents the clothes escaping from the basket during its oscillationinto the chamber c.

A pinion i on the spindle gears with a toothed rack Ic'actuated by acrank l driven through worm gear from an electric motor m. To avoidshock 15 it is preferred to interpose in the connection between thecrank and the toothed portion of the rack a spring buffer arrangementcomprising a telescopic joint with springs n.

Beneath the chamber cis a liquid straining and 20 heating vessel o whichis formed with a neck o1 that has a lateral connection o2 with thebottom of the chamber c; this connection is provided with a cock orvalve o3 and may be formed with a coupling piece to enable .the vesselto be de- 25 tached. The mouth of the neck is closed by a screw cap o4having linked to it a short length of tube o5 which rests on a shoulderin the neck and projects downwardly. Attached to the tube is a gauzepocket or strainer o6 which retains 3o buttons and so on entering withthe cleansing liquid and can be easily withdrawn for emptying. Theentering liquid is directed to the bottom of the vessel o by a tube o-rl(Fig. 2). Within the vessel o is a coil p for circulation of water ofcon- 35 densation led from the steam heated main still q through thepipe q1; and the lower part of the vessel is jacketed and heated bywater led from the condenser r through the pipe r3. Towards the top, thevessel o has an outlet pipe s con- 40 nected to the still q, the upperpart of which is connected by a pipe t to the elevated condenser r whichconsists of coils arranged within a water tank an-d discharging into acleansing liquid storage tank u which is in Valve-controlled connectionthrough the pipe u with the .chamber c.

To avoid the necessity of frequently opening up the still q to removedirty residue, it is so connected with a supplementary still z that thedirty residue can be withdrawn from the bottom of the still q anddelivered into the still z, the ultimate residue being drawn olf througha cock 21; in the example, a pipe q2 extends from the bottom of thestill q and is connected to the top of the still z through a condensingcoiled pipe z2 and through 55 Y a hand operated pump w.

The still is heated by steam piping z3 arranged in the bottom of thestill and connected to the coil q3 arranged in the main still. With thisarrangement, the distilled vapour condenses in the pipe z2 and thedistillate flows back through the pipe q2 to the still q thus avoidingfroth, due to heating of dirty liquid, beingcarried away with the vapourinto the condenser r and thence to the storage tank u which would resultin contamination of the liquid to be used for cleaning. Residueaccumulating in the still q can be pumped at am; time into the still z,whilst, when steam is shut 01T from the still z, condensation of vapourtherein will cause a reduction of pressure and any residue in still qwill be sucked up the pipe z2 into the still z ready for futuredistillation.

What I claim is:- 1. In an apparatus of the character described,cleansing liquid recovery means comprising; a main still for distillingdirty cleansing liquid, a condenser, a connection between said still andcondenser through which the distillate can pass, a supplementary still,between the main still and the supplementary still,` a, pump adapted towithdraw the residue from the main still and deliver it into thesupplementary still and an open connection between the bottom of themain still and the top of the supplementary still, said open connectionserving as a condensing device for distilled vapour fromY thesupplementary still and as a return for the condensate to the main stilland to permit residual liquid in. the main still passing into thesupplementary still when th heating of the latter is stopped.

2. In an apparatus of the character described;v a main still fordistilling dirty cleansing liquid, a

` pipe connected to said main still and adapted to permit passage ofresidue from said main still inito said supplementary still upon.diminution of pressure in the latter and also to permit condensate fromthe: supplementary still to gravitate into the. main still.

ALFRED JONES'.

